1. Tourette’s Syndrome
by Martha

2. Coming Up... What is Tourette’s Syndrome? What are the symptoms?
Disorders Associated with TS
General Facts/Characteristics of TS
How is it treated?
Personal Story
Review Points
Bibliography

3. What is Tourette’s Syndrome?
an inherited neurological disorder
named after Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, a French neurologist who described the condition first in 1885
characterized by involuntary movements and uncontrollable vocal sounds called tics
there is no known cause

4. What are the symptoms?
Facial tics (excessive blinking, grimacing, etc.)
Other motor tics (head jerking, body twisting, etc.)
Continually clearing throat, coughing, sniff, shout, etc.
Involuntarily shouting inappropriate things (caprotalia)
Constantly repeat other’s words (echolalia)
Excessively touching others
severe cases involve lip or cheek biting and banging their head against hard objects

5. Disorders Associated with TS are:
anti-social behavior
sleep disorders
hyperactivity
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Attention Deficit Disorder
Learning Disabilities

6. General Facts/Characteristics of TS
symptoms generally appear before age 18
found in all racial groups
3 to 4 times more common in males
an estimated 200,000 Americans have it
about 1 in 200 people show symptoms
there is no cure
the cause is unknown

7. General Facts/Characteristics (cont.)
symptoms generally reduce in late teens or early twenties
as symptoms decrease, depression, mood swings, and anti-social behavior may increase
someone with TS has a 50% chance of giving it to their child
life-long illness

8. How is it treated?
there is no cure, but the following drugs reduce the tics:
haloperidol
pimozide
tardive dyskinesia
clonide
fluphenazine
clonazepam

9. Personal Story
Cally Cason from Portland, Oregon started showing the symptoms for Tourette’s Syndrome around the age of three, but his parents dismissed his behavior and thought it was just a way to get attention. His mom talked to his pediatrician about his behavior, but he said it was just a nervous tic that he would outgrow. One night, his father heard him grunting upstairs in his room and he called his neighbor because she and her sons had Tourette’s Syndrome, and for a long time she thought Cally might have it. Finally, his parents took him to a neurologist and it was confirmed that he had Tourette’s Syndrome. Cally is now 15 and he is a track star at his high school.

10. Current Research...
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
National Institute of Mental Health
National Center for Research Resources
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

11. Summary of Tourette’s Syndrome:
inherited neurological disorder
symptoms include tics
3 to 4 times more common in men
symptoms generally appear before age 18
an estimated 200,000 Americans have it
no cure, but there is treatment for symptoms
life-long illness
symptoms normally reduce as patients mature
the cause is unknown

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY